The instructor we hire

because she does not love you

Leads you into the deep water,

The deep end

Where the water is darker—

Her open, encouraging arms

That never get nearer

Are merciless for your sake.

You will dream this water always

Where nothing draws nearer,

Wasting your valuable breath

You will scream for your mother—

Only your mother is drowning

Forever in the thin air

Down at the deep end.

She is doing nothing,

She never did anything harder.

And I am beside her.

I am beside her in this imagination.

We are waiting

Where the water is darker.

You are over your head,

Screaming, you are learning

Your way toward us,

You are learning how

In the helpless water

It is with our skill

We live in what kills us.